The Greater Good
by InDiGo MaRcH
Summary: "So you're telling me we've traveled to an alternate dimension where your parents are still alive, Voldemort's a good guy, and Dumbledore's taken over the world?" Harry nodded numbly and Ernie let out a low whistle. "That's screwed up, man." AlternateUni
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I SPANK YA FACE!

**Author's Note: **It was a long tedious pregnancy that required much cake and many fudge pops, but here's my brain baby! I hope you LOVE IT. I WROTE THIS FOR YOOOOUUUUUU.

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**Chapter One**

"_We seize control FOR THE GREATER GOOD"_

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"GET BACK! GET BACK _NOW!" _Ernie Macmillan's voice roared over the sound of the battle raging around the team of Aurors. Both Dean and Seamus obeyed and started to retreat from the two wizards; behind Ernie, Ron signaled to Harry, who nodded grimly before circling back around the two duelers.

"Do as he says! All of you!" the hooded wizard was screaming, his wand slicing through the air as he sent a steady procession of curses at Ernie, "Get back!"

"It's gonna blow!" Ernie bellowed as he ducked his head; a jet of green light sailed through the air above him, blowing his hair back.

Ron shimmied quickly up the ladder to his right and onto the creaking metal catwalk that stretched high above the warehouse floor. The air was boiling with magic and sparks crisscrossed below his feet as he plodded down the walk towards the two wizards, Harry running parallel to him from the other side of the warehouse.

"_It's Goyle again," _the Head of the Auror Department, John Dawlish, had informed the team hours before. "_Bring him in before he tries blowing up another street block."_

"_Here's an idea," _Ernie retorted sarcastically to the others as they shrugged into their robes, _"how about we put him _under_ Azkaban this time?"_

"_How does he keep escaping anyway?"_ asked Seamus as they headed for the door.

"_I'm still not convinced there isn't a mole in security," _said Ron darkly.

"_Goyle's so thick, and so desperately in need of a shower," _said Dean, _"that the security trolls probably see him more as a brother than a prisoner."_

"_I hate trolls," _Ron growled, "_they're bloody useless. What was Kingsley thinking? Hiring them out?"_

"_Ask your fiancé," _Harry smirked, _"She's the one that's got the __Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in such a titzy."_

"_Bless her for her efforts," _said Ron fondly, _"but honestly. That woman."_

"What is that thing?" Harry shouted over at Ron as they neared the edge of the catwalk and looked down on Ernie and Goyle. A large metal ring stood tall and mighty behind the wizards, pulsing blue and humming with energy, and as they watched the pulsing increased until a solid blue blur was spinning around the rim.

"It looks like a particle diffusion accelerator!" Dean shouted up to them.

"A _WHAT_?" Ron screamed back.

"No idea, but it sounded smart!"

Ron looked back towards Ernie and Goyle just as Seamus whacked Dean on the back of the head. Energy was splitting through the warehouse from the duel; sparks flew around the pair as the floor beneath them began to splinter and crack from the magical exertion.

"Ron!" Harry shouted to get his attention. He pointed down at the ring and Ron tracked the movement and stared once he realized what was happening: some sort of wind had picked up, dragging everything towards the ring. Sparks from the spells and curses were swirling towards the center and both Goyle and Ernie were bracing themselves as firmly as they could as the wind picked at their robes. "We've gotta take that out!"

"Harry—_wait_!" Ron shouted at him, reaching out and grabbing the railing of the catwalk. The draw of the ring was becoming stronger, stretching hungrily across the entire warehouse until crates and boxes started tumbling across the floor towards the two dueling wizards.

"Ernie, get out of there!" yelled Seamus, clutching onto one of the steel supports of the catwalk as the ring sucked the air out of the warehouse.

The metal beneath Ron's feet started to creak under the pressure, pitching violently enough to send him crashing onto his knees.

"What is that thing?" Ernie bellowed at Goyle, dodging a crate as it rolled through the air above him. A loud _zap_ followed as the crate disintegrated on impact with the swirling vortex in the middle of the ring.

"Heck if I know!" Goyle shot at him, still vainly trying to curse his face off. He began to wave his arm wildly, _"Avada KadavARGH_!" he screamed as his wand yanked free and bulleted into the ring.

"Turn it off!" Ernie shouted, ducking his head against the wind pulling on them as he braced himself against the ring's platform.

"I don't know how to!" Goyle shouted at him, his hands pushing stubbornly against the metal brace.

Above them, Ron was screaming his head off as he clung to the rail. "WHERE'S HERMIONE WHEN YOU NEED HER?"

Harry darted out from behind another steel support, keeping himself low to the ground as he ran along the base of the ring's platform and towards Goyle and Ernie, his feet slipping sliding as he went along. Throwing himself down beside Ernie, he lifted his wand. "We need to take it out! Give it everything you've got!"

The other auror nodded and retrieved his wand from his sleeve, having slipped it back into place when the duel became fruitless. In sync, the two wizards gripped their wands firmly and pointed them up at the ring. _"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" _they shouted in unison, their voices rising above the screaming of the machine.

Identical streaks of light shot from their wands but were only sucked into the vortex along with another box, a strip of aluminum, and someone's unfortunate cat that screeched in horror before another crackling _zap_ blasted through the warehouse. It seemed the ring was steadily increasing its power with everything it sucked up; it was only a matter of time before it sucked in the entire warehouse, taking the team along with it.

"The roof!" Harry shouted above the roaring in their ears, "Blast the—"

"Look out!" Seamus shouted from behind them as a steel pole spun through the air towards them and smacked into the three wizards crouching at the base of the ring. They all lost their footing and somersaulted backwards onto the platform. Goyle's hand shot out and latched onto the ledge and Ernie grabbed onto his foot and clutched a fistful of Harry's robes as he sailed past them.

"HARRY!" Ron shouted from above, his cry echoed by both Dean and Seamus from the front of the warehouse.

Harry shot a series of curses and spells at the edges of the ring desperately before his wand was sucked right out of his hand.

"I'm slipping!" Goyle grunted down to the two others.

"Don't you dare let go, Goyle!" Ernie shouted at him as he tightened his grip around his ankle.

"I'm slipping!" he repeated, now sounding panicky as his sweaty hand began to inch back from the edge of the platform.

"Guys!" Harry shouted up at them as the toes of his shoes touched the center of the ring. "Guizzze!" he repeated, his voice vibrating from the force of the vortex jarring his entire body.

"Don't let go, Goyle!" shouted Ernie.

"I LET GO!" he wailed, and the three of them went flying into the ring.

"HARRY!" bellowed Ron, his voice squeaky with horror as the ring's speed increased to a whining pitch that screeched through the warehouse. The joints of the structure began to creak in protest along with the support beams of the catwalk above, sending the metal pitching beneath Ron again. A thunderous explosion then ripped through the entire warehouse; the roof caved in, taking the back wall and a good portion of the catwalk with it. Ron shouted again, scrambling backwards as the catwalk continued to buckle under the weight of the roof.

At last it stopped, leaving only a thick cloud of dust settling over the warehouse and the ghostly moan of the metal that was bent grotesquely towards the middle of the floor. Gone was the back half of the building.

Gone were the three wizards.

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With what sounded like the wailing of a dying cat screaming in their ears, the three wizards found themselves suddenly chucked out of a cloud of sizzling sparks, followed by three subsequent _thumps_ as their bodies hit the ground.

"What was _that?"_ Ernie immediately demanded to know, only to get a face full of screeching cat as the vortex burped out the frenzied feline. "AGH! GET IT OFF!"

Goyle took one wild look around them before scrambling onto his feet and making a run for it; Ernie pried the cat away from his face and chucked it at the fleeing wizard, who shouted as the feline latched onto his back with a murderous, "MROWWW!"

"Where are we?" asked Harry as he stood up with a wince, rubbing his backside tenderly. "It looks like…" and his eyes grew wide behind his glasses as he turned a 360, "Hogsmeade…"

"Did we disapparate?" asked Ernie, popping up onto his own feet.

They were indeed in Hogsmeade, but something wasn't quite right, and it had nothing to do with Goyle cuddling with a cat at their feet. The street was littered with trash and rubble, and the buildings were black and ashy with soot, the unmistakable ghostly remains of a terrible attack. Harry crossed the street slowly, staring up at the crumbling remains of the Three Broomsticks.

"What the—?"

"GET DOWN!" Ernie shouted without warning, and a second later Harry found himself face down in the dirt with the other auror sprawled on top of him as a small fighter jet came screaming over the town, crashing right through the roof of the pub above them.

"HOLY HIPPOGRIFFS!" Goyle screeched from behind them as he scrambled out of the way.

Ernie covered his head as broken boards and shingles rained down over them, and as soon as the rubble stopped falling he and Harry dragged themselves out of the debris.

"What the heck?" Harry tugged at his hair wildly; the jet, billowing with smoke, crashed into the ground somewhere behind the Three Broomsticks and exploded. "What—that—_what's going on!"_

"Look! There's more of 'em!" Goyle shouted, pointing wildly towards the distant smoldering form of Hogwarts.

"Harry," Ernie's voice was unnervingly calm, "why is Hogwarts on fire?"

When the other auror failed to answer, Ernie seized him roughly by the front of his robes and, looking crazy, shouted, _"Why is Hogwarts on fire?"_

Before Harry's head could even stop swiveling, another jet came streaking through the sky towards them, this time followed by the sharp shrill sounds of gunfire.

"What's happening?" Goyle demanded as ammunition peppered the ground and tore up the road towards them.

Ernie reacted instantly, "Get behind me!" and drew his wand. _"Protego!"_

Bullets the size of marbles ricocheted off of his shield and flew off into the distance, slamming into buildings and smashing through windows. The jet flew overhead and then up into the clouds where it turned sharply to release a second round.

"Do something!" cried Goyle, hugging the cat to his chest so tightly it hissed and scratched at him angrily.

Ernie drew back his wand arm and then thrust it forward again, sending the shield of energy slamming into the hull of the jet. It spun wildly through the sky before disappearing behind a line of houses; a moment later the ground shuddered as it exploded.

"We need to get out of here!" said Harry urgently, but Goyle took matters into his own hands and started running down the road with the cat tucked under his armpit, waving an arm above his head as he screamed, "WE SURRENDER! WE SURRENDER!"

"Goyle!" shouted Ernie, "Get back here!"

"Come on!" Harry took off after him, careful to keep a watchful eye on the skies. He had no idea what was going on, but when the military was involved and heavily armed you didn't stop to ask questions.

Goyle charged through the gates and onto the well beaten path that wound its way up to the school, his arms still flailing as he screamed, "DON'T SHOOT! DON'T SHOOT! WE SURRENDER!"

More jets flew overheard, darting in and out of the clouds as they fired— fired at what? What was that? Taking a moment to catch his breath, Harry stared up through the leaves of the trees and for the first time noticed the wizards mounted on broomsticks. Flashes of light flew across the sky as spells were cast. Enemy fire.

Were they at war with Muggles? How where they—what was—

Catching up, Ernie urged him on, his wand at the ready in case they were spotted again.

Upon reaching the stone bridge that stretched across the chasm leading into the outer courtyard of the castle, Goyle skidded to a stop and stood stock-still as he gazed in horror and awe at the battle raging on the grounds all around them.

"What the hell," Ernie breathed as they came up beside him. Now he clutched his own hair. "What the _hell_."

Harry shook his head, words failing him once again as he watched wizards and Muggles alike fall before them. Gunfire split the air, curses and spells sizzled from every direction, tanks, dragons, everything imaginable from both of his worlds had meshed together in a single bloody war-burrito.

"Look out!" someone shouted from behind them, and they turned in almost perfect unison just as the ground began to tremble, followed by a monstrous stampede. A herd of centaurs came crashing forth from the Forbidden Forest towards them, armed with bows and arrows that were shot high up into the sky at the wizards. "LOOK OUT!" was repeated, and Harry found himself face down for the second time in a manner of minutes, but this time he was pinned to the ground by a redheaded woman.

"Ginny?" he gasped, his glasses wildly crooked from the fall.

"No, you dolt!" was the furious reply as she moved off of him, the centaurs having passed to wreck more havoc across the grounds. "What the heck do you think you're doing, standing around! There's a battle to be fought!"

And as he sat up, Harry got a better look at his rescuer, and to say words failed him was an understatement. He was truly beginning to question everything he knew, for before him, her cheek split open and her hair pulled back sharply, was Lily Potter, her emerald green eyes—his eyes—narrowed to fierce slits.

But she was—she couldn't be—

Lily was already running across the grounds with her wand in hand, her scarlet red hair fanning around her as she ducked and weaved back into the battle. His mother, most definitely alive, was fighting a war with Muggles and wizards on the grounds of Hogwarts.

Ernie was shouting at him, but everything was muffled and distorted, his mind still trying to process everything that was going on. Goyle—why was he there? And where did he get that cat—?

Another high pitched whine split through the fog in his mind and he jerked back into action, scrambling out of the way as another fighter jet slammed into the ground only a few hundred yards away, sending another tumultuous rumble through the earth. Ernie seized him by the back of his robes and hauled both him and Goyle out of the way, shouting orders, his own adrenaline taking over, still oblivious, because everything was wrong, wrong, _wrong_—

"A noble effort, however hopeless," a voice suddenly cut effortlessly through the sounds of battle, so unexpectedly and full of force that Ernie lost his footing and slid down the slope. "I speak directly to the Resistance when I say that victory is impossible. Join us now, my brothers and sisters, or risk being destroyed."

"No," Harry turned and stared towards the distant castle, menacing in its frame of fire and ash, towards the man the voice belonged to.

"Join us now," Dumbledore continued indifferently, "and together, we will reign over mankind for the greater good."

"Harry—that was—" Ernie sounded as stunned as Harry felt, but before he could reply a monstrous man landed on his feet before them, having dropped right out of the sky—

"Hagrid!" Harry exclaimed, scrambling to his feet only to have Ernie yank him back down as a stray spell shot overhead. With a bloodcurdling roar Hagrid pivoted around to face their attacker, his fist clenching as it swung out to send their assailant flying off his feet. More spells bounced harmlessly off his chest and back as he swung at more wizards.

"McGonagall's callin' uh retreat!" he boomed at them, jerking Goyle to his feet by the hood of his robes. Blinding lights flashed above them and Harry gawked in hopeless confusion as entire fighter jets began to disapparate—but that was impossible—

"Don' jus stand there!" Hagrid bellowed at them, and with a tumultuous _CRACK!_ he disapparated without warning. Hagrid. Hagrid disapparated.

They weren't at war with Muggles. They were at war with Dumbledore. The entire world suddenly made absolutely no sense. Hagrid was disapparating. Dragons were flying neck and neck with Muggle jets. Centaurs were cantering next to army tanks. Dumbledore. The Greater Good.

"RETREAT!" someone roared, his voice carrying over the series of cracks and screams. "Resistance, TO ME! Retreat!"

Harry whirled around, his glasses lighting up with the fire of another explosion, but before he could call out to Sirius someone gripped his shoulder and with an earsplitting _CRACK!_ the sounds of battle disappeared and everything went black.

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**End Note: **IF YOU TOOK THE TIME TO READ THIS PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEASE REVIEW! PLEASE. EVEN IF YOU HATED IT AND THOUGHT IT WAS DUMB. I LOVE YOU. HERE'S A TACO.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"_We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided"_

…

With a shuddering _oomph_ Harry once again found himself face down in the dirt. His ears were ringing, his mind spinning. Every nerve in his body was taunt. He was, to put it simply, in complete shock. Dumbledore was evil? _His mother was alive?_

"Ernie," he groaned as he pushed himself up, looking to his left where the Hufflepuff was sprawled on his back, but Ernie was much too occupied with staring at the gun trained down on his face to answer. Harry's head snapped forward to take in the ring of wizards and Muggles that surrounded the forest clearing they had apparated into.

"Orders, sir?" one of the Muggle soldiers asked, a menacing looking rifle lifted to his face as he kept it trained on Goyle. Harry looked around and his shock only deepened as the line of soldiers parted to make room for a formidable looking Neville Longbottom, who folded his heavily scarred and finely-toned arms over his chest to glare down at them. His thick dark hair was overgrown and unkempt, his face unshaven and rough. There was no warmth or recognition in his hardened gaze as he abruptly seized Ernie around the throat and dragged him to his feet.

"Neville!" Harry shouted as Ernie choked in surprise. "What are you—"

"Quiet!" one of the soldiers snapped at him; pain exploded across the back of his head as it became acquainted with the butt of a gun.

"Who are you?" Neville hissed as he tightened his grip around Ernie's windpipe.

"Can't—" he growled, his face darkening under the pressure on his throat, "—_breathe!"_

"Who sent you?" Neville shouted in his face, but without waiting for an answer he relinquished his grip and Ernie fell onto his back, where he scrambled backwards across the ground and into Harry, who gripped his shoulder.

"You alright?" he muttered.

Ernie rubbed his throbbing throat, glaring furiously up at Neville as he gestured sharply to the surrounding soldiers. "What the heck's going on?" Ernie growled at him, but before Harry could reply two of the Resistance wizards jabbed their wands towards them: thick cords erupted forth and twisted sharply around the three men before yanking them up onto their feet.

"Not so tight!" Goyle snapped as his arms were pinned tightly to his sides.

"Move!" one of the soldiers barked at him, jabbing him in the back with the mouth of his gun.

"Watch where you point that thing!"

As the three of them were herded out of the clearing and onto a well beaten path that cut through the thick trees, Neville tapped the comlink in his ear. "Stand down," he said firmly, "the suspects have been subdued."

Harry heard a sharp clicking issue from the trees around them and stared in disbelief as ten more Muggle soldiers appeared out of nowhere, lowering their weapons.

"Who the heck were you expecting, huh?" Ernie growled as the soldiers behind them ordered them to keep moving. "The Hulk?"

"Neville, don't you recognize us?" Harry asked him, stumbling slightly on the uneven ground as they were hurried along the path.

"I recognize Dumbledore's antics when I see them, alright," was the haughty reply.

"Wait," said Ernie, shooting an irritable glare at the soldier poking him in the back with his gun, "you think Dumbledore _sent_ us? Are you _mad?_ We're on your side, ya tosser!"

Neville whacked a low hanging branch out of his way, which immediately swung back to smack Goyle in the face as he said sardonically, "Right, so coincidence is it, you showing up in the middle of a battle looking exactly like my comatose best mate?"

That stumped all three of them, though Goyle was too busy fighting back tears of pain to properly react as Harry said cautiously, "Comatose? What are you talking about?"

"The last time I saw Ernie Macmillan was this morning," Neville snarled at them over his shoulder without pause. "And he's been lying catatonic in the medical tent for the past three weeks. Whatever Dumbledore's source is—"

Ernie interrupted him, sounding stunned as he murmured, "I'm in a _coma?"_

"_He's_ in a coma," Neville corrected darkly with a murderous gaze. "You've wasted your time! Dumbledore's failed to plant a mole in the Resistance—"

"Dumbledore didn't send us!" Harry told him. "We have nothing to do with Dumbledore! We have nothing to do with the Resistance! We're not _from_ here! None of this is supposed to be happening!"

"If you're not Dumbledore's lapdogs, then who are you?" Neville shot back. "Explain why _he_ looks like Ernie, and why _you_ look like James Potter!"

"Because he _is_ Ernie," said Harry, "and James Potter is my father! I'll prove it to you!"

"How?" Neville demanded, finally pausing to glare fiercely at them once more. "There can't be two Ernie Macmillans, and James Potter doesn't—"

"Summer after seventh year you had a fling with Luna Lovegood!" Ernie blurted at him. "You also went through a Weird Sisters stage and got a tattoo of a hippogriff across your chest, and when your Gran found out she—"

"That's enough!" Neville shouted frantically as the soldiers around them began to snicker. "I'm convinced!" After glaring his troops into silence he hissed, "Either you've done your research, or…you actually _are_ Ernie Macmillan. But if that's the case…" his brow furrowed, and he lowered his voice even more, "_how?_"

Ernie shook his head. "We're not sure, but," and here he looked at Harry and Goyle, "it _must_ have had something to do with that machine we got sucked into."

"What machine?"

"Dunno," said Harry. "We thought it just disintegrated anything it sucked in, but the next thing we knew we were standing in the middle of Hogsmeade, along with half the warehouse."

"He's right," one of the soldiers spoke up. "I thought they had just apparated, but I saw the whole thing—there was all sorts of things come through with 'em."

Neville glanced at him, but then focused again on Harry. "Let me get this straight. You're saying you've traveled from, what? A different world?"

"Where everything is the same, but completely different," he confirmed. "I mean, you're there, and McGonagall, Dumbledore, everyone, but in our…_world_, I guess, Dumbledore wasn't, you know, evil."

"Let's back up for a minute," said Ernie, "tell us what the heck's going on here and maybe we can figure out what went wrong." He looked at Harry. "In Dumbledore's history, I mean. What he did differently to take over the world."

Neville slowly started to nod, still looking bewildered, but there was also a light of acceptance crossing his face. "You guys really aren't from here if you don't know. It all started with Grindelwald—"

"Of course!" said Harry at once. "The Greater Good! It makes sense now! Ernie," he said urgently as he turned to look at the other Auror, "did you ever read Rita Skeeter's biography of Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, but everything she writes is a load of bullocks—"

"Not all of it," he said. "She did get one thing right. Dumbledore and Grindelwald had planned to lead the wizards out of hiding, to dominate the world and rule over Muggles. _That_ must have been the turning point of this world! Neville, what do you know about Ariana and Aberforth, his siblings?"

"Ariana's insane," said Neville, his brows raising, "and Aberforth—"

"But she's alive?" Harry asked him.

"Unfortunately," he said suddenly bitterly. "I'd like to take the nut out myself—"

Harry, barely listening, nodded excitedly. "That's it! Grindelwald fled Godric's Hollow because a duel broke out between him, Aberforth, and Dumbledore; Ariana was killed and Grindelwald ran for the hills." He looked extremely pleased with himself. "Since Ariana never _died_—"

"Grindelwald never _left_!" Ernie exclaimed, so excited they figured it out that he toppled over and squirmed on the ground. "And, hey, can someone untie me?"

"That's all great and everything," said Goyle, "but how do we get home?"

They all fell silent until the only noise came from the distant hammering of a woodpecker and the slight rustling of the branches high above them. Finally, his brow furrowed, Harry said, "Maybe…we have to build another machine?"

"Great," said Ernie sarcastically, "brilliant. Since we obviously knew what it was in the first place, that shouldn't be too hard."

But Harry only fixed his narrow-eyed gaze on Goyle. "What _was_ that thing, Goyle?"

The bulky Slytherin looked wildly between Harry and Neville. "I told you! I don't know! I was just—" but he pinched his lips together tightly and looked away.

"Just what?" Harry demanded, his eyes narrowing even further with suspicion.

"Forget it."

"Following orders?"

"Yeah, maybe I was!" He clenched his jaw, which jutted forward defensively. "Doesn't mean I knew what I was doing! It was just business!"

"So you might be our only hope of getting back," said Ernie slowly, "and you don't even know what the _hell_—"

Neville's comlink suddenly buzzed and they all looked towards him as he turned away, "This is Longbottom. Come in."

While Neville listened in, Harry turned back to Goyle. "You've gotta know _something_, mate, or we're stuck here, wherever _here_ is."

"Where's a Time Lord when you need one?" Ernie mumbled as he struggled to push himself upright without the use of his arms, which were still pinned tightly to his sides.

"I don't know," Goyle insisted irritably. "It was my job to protect it, nothing else—"

"Over," said Neville into his comlink, and he turned back to the three of them. "McGonagall wants to see you." He nodded beyond them to the soldiers. "Untie them and return their wands."

"But, sir—"

"I trust them," he said firmly. "Now move out!"

Harry helped Ernie to his feet once their restraints were removed, and as they followed after Neville he said, "That must have been some tattoo."

Ernie grinned. "You have no idea. It's almost as bad as the one on Ron's—"

Harry quickly cleared his throat as he said, "Don't remind me."

Behind them, Goyle rubbed his raw wrists irritably and mumbled darkly under his breath, "Alternate dimension my arse. I'm still not convinced we're not dead."

…

"Welcome," said Neville as the path opened up and the trees fell away, "to the Resistance."

Tents, many standing tall and a few drooping low beneath the swaying pines of the forest, stood erected all around them, heavily patched and frayed and weather beaten. Wizards and Muggles alike—distinguished only by the wands or guns they carried—hurried to and fro across the needle strewn ground, their footsteps muffled as they bustled around importantly carrying supplies and distributing weapons. Shouts rang through the sky as owls swooped in and out of the trees, and in the distance Harry heard the unmistakable roars of several dragons. Harry, along with Ernie and Goyle, stared in slack jawed amazement at the flurry of activity around them.

"How…how many of you _are_ there?" Harry asked Neville in awe.

Neville only grinned and clapped him heartily upon the back with enough force to make him stumble several steps forward. "You haven't seen anything yet!" he exclaimed jovially. "We have eyes and ears everywhere, mate. Little goes on that we don't know about."

"Except us," Goyle remarked dryly.

"Which is why McGonagall's summoned us," said Neville. He nodded to their escort, "You're dismissed. Carry on with your duties."

As the soldiers disbanded, Neville turned and lead the three of them into the heart of camp. "Do you recognize anyone else?" he asked Harry when he noticed him scanning the crowd intently. Most of the Resistance members ignored them, too busy with their own tasks to hold any interest for a couple of newcomers, but a few stopped and stared to whisper amongst themselves.

"No," said Harry with a shake of his head.

"I don't recognize anyone either," Ernie spoke up. "Most of them are Muggles."

"Muggles are the ones being oppressed," Neville reminded them. "They're the ones who have lost everything. Wizards, on the other hand, have been promised the highest honor—a place with Dumbledore in Elysium."

"Come again?" said Goyle.

"Elysium," said Ernie. "Paradise."

"That's what McGonagall said," Neville shrugged, turning around and walking backwards so he could see them. That small action reminded Harry of another Neville Longbottom, one who was equally scarred and bruised as he lead them to a different Resistance…

"Paradise, huh?" said Goyle. "Doesn't sound so bad."

Neville shrugged again. "It's great for those who, like Dumbledore and Grindelwald, think Muggles are beneath us."

"Maybe they are," Goyle murmured darkly.

"What was that?" Neville raised his eyebrows.

"Nothing."

Shrugging once more, Neville marched the three of them up a steep incline to the mouth of an imposing scarlet tent that seemed to tower over the rest. Banners—unmistakably Gryffindor but faded and torn—hung next to the entrance and flapped forlornly in the slight breeze that rustled the grass at their feet. Neville stepped forward to pull back the flap, releasing the sound of an extremely heated argument.

"After you," he said to Harry, waving him through.

A deafening screech assaulted Harry's senses the moment he stepped inside and he hastily ducked his head as a violent streak of red light shot across the tent towards them.

"Watch it!" Neville snapped as he quickly slapped out the flames that had erupted over the canvas.

"_YOU _LEFT_ HIM?" _Lily Evans was screaming shrilly; she jabbed her wand sharply as she advanced across the tent and another streak of light bulleted through the air towards the wizard with wild dark hair and glasses—

"Hit the deck!" Ernie shouted as he dove onto the ground, but Harry quickly lunged in front of his father; Lily's curse hit him square in the chest, sending him flying off his feet where he collided with a bookcase that splintered under the force and sent a mountain of books crashing down on top of him.

"Harry!"

Silence fell across the tent as James and Ernie both scrambled across the ground to pull Harry out from beneath the wreckage.

"Is he okay?" Lily asked at once, mortified by what she had done.

James got one good look at Harry's slack face before scrambling backwards again, looking stunned. "But—who—"

Ernie merely raised his hand and slapped the other Auror soundly across the face, making them all wince. He raised his hand again, but before he could deliver another slap Harry's hand shot out to seize him around the wrist.

"Don't," he hissed, "do that again."

"Are you okay?" Lily asked him worriedly, offering her hand, but she pulled it back as soon as his eyes met hers. Shock dominated her face as she stumbled back, looking quickly between James and Harry. "Oh my _Godric_—there are _two_ of you!" and she sounded absolutely disgusted.

As Harry rubbed his smarting cheek and stood up, he got a better look at the tent: a large wooden table occupied most of the space, covered completely in maps and charts and crudely crafted figurines that waltzed themselves across the surface to plot their positions and coordinate battle strategies. Harry's attention was immediately drawn to Minerva McGonagall who stood at the head of the table with her eyes raised over the top of her glasses as she surveyed the scene.

"McGonagall—" Lily stammered, tearing her eyes away from Harry to look at the older witch.

"You may apologize for your ridiculous behavior in a moment, Evans," she said coolly as she kept her gaze on Harry, "but I think we're all much more interested in our visitors."

But Harry could only stare at her. McGonagall's long dark hair, streaked with gray, was pulled back in its customary tight bun, but her face looked younger, tougher, and like Neville's had its fair share of battle scars. There was a light in her eyes that Harry had seen only once before as she called forth Hogwart's soldiers in the battle against Voldemort. He swallowed under the withering glare he was so familiar with.

Luckily, Neville came to his rescue. "This is Harry Potter. He's from another dimension."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Longbottom?"

"Did you say _Potter?"_ James asked, his expression still one of the utmost bewilderment.

"Yeah, he's your kid, apparently," Neville told him. "See the resemblance?"

James only continued to look baffled as he stammered, "Well, yeah, I do, but…I haven't got any kids."

Harry looked alarmed by this news, but before he could express himself Lily laughed harshly and planted her hands smugly on her hips as she said, ""Why am I not surprised? It was only a matter of time before James knocked up one of his—"

"And you're my mom," Harry told her bluntly.

Lily stared at him, too stunned to speak.

Someone suddenly erupted with laughter, and turning, Harry caught sight of Sirius standing at the tent's entrance. "Oh, this is _gold_!" he exclaimed as he pushed past Goyle and Ernie, but Harry was much too distraught to be pleased to see his Godfather alive and well as he focused his desperate attention on Lily and James.

"How _dare_ you," she seethed at him, "how _dare_ you even _imply_ that I would _ever_—"

Harry felt his heart drop as the realization dawned on him. Something much, _much_ worse than Dumbledore had happened here; he dropped his voice, his brow furrowing fearfully as he asked quietly, "Aren't you two…_together?"_

"No! Godric, no!" Lily exclaimed, looking revolted.

James only shook his head, glancing at her quickly before rubbing his neck and turning away from Harry. "No," he said roughly, "no, we're definitely not together."

Harry felt like all of the air had been punched out of his body. _"Why?"_ he demanded.

Sirius was still laughing. "James and Lily? Are you kidding? They've only hated each other since James—"

"But you're my parents!" Harry looked between the two of them desperately. "I know you hated each other in school, but when Dad straightened up, when he matured a little—"

Lily let out a scornful little laugh as she spat his words back at him, "Matured? Straightened up? James Potter is the most _arrogant_, _selfish_, and _immature_ toerag I've ever had the misfortune of _meeting_!"

James leaned against the table and folded his arms over his chest, glaring stonily at the floor as he refused to speak.

"He's the _last_ man I'd _ever_ have a kid with!" she snapped at Harry. "He's the last man I'd ever willingly _talk_ to! The only reason I put up with him is because of our cause! I _hate_—"

"OI!" Neville shouted at her so suddenly she stumbled, having been so passionately caught up in degrading James she had quite forgotten everyone else. Neville glared at her irritably before focusing on McGonagall. "I know it's far-fetched, and obviously hard to believe," he glanced meaningfully at Lily and James again, "but I believe them. Besides, it's not Polyjuice Potion, or Transfiguration. The potion lasts only an hour, tops, and I haven't seen them drinkin' anything, and no one can transfigure themselves that well."

Harry merely sank unhelpfully into an empty chair at the table, his mind still ringing with Lily's hateful words and James's stolen looks.

Ernie stepped forward and cleared his throat. "If you need a bit of persuading, Professor, it may interest you to know that I'm fully aware of your little adventure with Filius Flitwick back in 1996—"

"What in Merlin's most sacred name are you talking about?"

"Ah, nothing," he said, backing up sheepishly, "just thought I'd relieve the tension a bit. My apologies, it's a bad time for jokes."

"No kidding," Neville growled at him out of the corner of his mouth.

McGonagall glared sternly at the pair of them. "Start again from the beginning and leave nothing out. What's this nonsense about alternate dimensions and Evans procreating with Potter?"

Glancing once more at Harry's blank face, Ernie took a deep breath. "Ma'am, where we come from, Dumbledore's a crazy old man who fancies tenpin bowling and lemon drops. He didn't take over the world, there's no Wizard paradise, and there's definitely no Martin Miggs versus Minerva McGonagall action. In _our_ world, James Potter and Lily Evans got married and had that specky little git sitting right there."

Before Lily could start shouting again, he plowed on firmly with, "This morning I kissed my wife goodbye and went to work. Goyle here," he seized the other wizard by the collar and yanked him into view, "was getting a bit wand happy downtown, so the Chief sent Harry, Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and myself to bring him in, but then someone activated this crazy super-powered vacuum machine that sucked the three of us in, and the next thing we knew Muggles were firing at us in their metal dragons."

Sirius, Lily, and James all raised their eyebrows, but McGonagall only settled back in a chair to steeple her fingers together in deep consideration. "_If_ what you say is true," she began slowly, "you may be of some use to us."

Ernie looked both surprised and confused, but before he could ask what, exactly, she meant, a soldier ducked into the tent looking out of breath and excited. "General!" he shouted, "They're back!"

McGonagall immediately rose to her feet, Ernie and the others quite forgotten as she circled the table and shoved past them.

"What's going on?" Ernie asked as everyone made a beeline for the entrance. "Who's back?"

Harry looked up as Ernie shouted at him to come on as he and Goyle ducked outside after everyone else, but he was still trying to process everything that had happened. It was bad enough that Dumbledore was supreme overlord of the world, but now his parents…

He felt sick to his stomach as he stared at the figurines milling around on McGonagall's tactical maps. If his parents weren't together…then he didn't even _exist_…

The first thing Harry heard when he ducked outside was McGonagall's excited voice, hidden behind the crowd of wizards and Muggles that had gathered around the tent, "You found it? You found them?"

"We found them alright," a distinctly grim voice replied, "but trying to break into Nurmengard would be suicide—"

"Ya wanna bet?" Neville's voice growled. Elbowing his way through the line of soldiers, Harry watched as he stalked towards the tall aging wizard who held McGonagall in his arms. "Azkaban was supposed to be impenetrable, too! But I broke out, didn't I? And so did Sirius! Where is it? We're going _tonight_!"

"Not so fast," said Elphinstone Urquart as he stepped away from his wife. "We all agree it's unwise to stage a rescue at this time. Neville, it's too—"

"I don't care _how_ dangerous it is!" he shouted. "My parents have been locked up in that hellhole for _three months._ Who knows what they're doing to them! What they've _done!_"

"It's too much of a risk!" Elphinstone insisted, reaching out a consoling hand only to pull it back as Neville stepped out of reach, shaking his head furiously. "We can't lose any more soldiers!"

"We won't," a smooth voice cut in abruptly, and Elphinstone and McGonagall stepped aside to make room for the newcomer, "_not_," Voldemort continued evenly, his eyes burning right into Harry's as he stumbled back in shock, "if we have the right team."

…

**E/N: SURPRISE! Not really. But siriusly. SO HAI. It feels like I rewrote this devil chapter a bajillion times, and I'm still not overly okay with it, but I'm my own worst critic so who knows, maybe it's decent. CHECK OUT MY POLL! And review to tell me whatcha think! Please! I love you! TACO! _CHEEESECAAAKE?_**


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